Fall Ball Softball - OU 24 - NCTC 0 Wrap-Up - Oct 14

[OUBeliever56A]

Repost from October 14 post by OUBeliever from old board

There was a line of fans two hours before gametime outside of Marita Hynes Field. The fans included 31 people from Idabel, Oklahoma representing a softball team right there in the front of the line. First game of the Fall, people are driving 3 hours plus to see a Sooner softball game on a Wednesday night. That is impressive. By game time the stands were near full all the way around the stadium. That is pretty good as well.

Sooner warmup things I noticed.
• The OF group included Alo, Lou (Donihoo), Boone, J C (Jayda Coleman) and Coor.
• The Infield group included Snow, Johns, Elam (Captain) and Nugent at 1B/3B and Lyons (G3), Jennings, Brito, and T Coleman. Green (G21) was catching in for this group.
• Hansen was in the bullpen catching Nicole May.
• Trautwein, Bahl and Guthrie was doing pitching drills in front of the dugout.
• Lilio and Waitman were not dressed for the game. Lilio was wearing a neoprene sleeve on her left knee. Waitman’s right arm was in a sling. I do not think I saw Macy McAdoo at the game. I know she was not in uniform.
• The ‘football drill’ before the game included a wide-open completion to Turiya Coleman on the left side. Coach Gasso throws a nice spiral with a softball.
If you have never made it to a game early enough to watch the Sooners warmup on the field 30 minutes before the game, you should try. It is efficient, it is smooth, it is impressive.

The Little League Softball World Series team from Tahlequah, Oklahoma (I am told today the team was from Muskogee not Tahlequah.) was in attendance at the game. They got the honor of being on the field during the introduction of the teams and the national anthem and even participated in the Sooner circle and threw out the first pitch of the game. I wonder if it gets any better to be a 12–13-year-old playing softball in Muskogee or Tahlequah, Oklahoma?

Starting lineup:
Jennings 2B, J C (CF), Alo (DP), Hansen (C), Johns (3B), Boone (RF), Lou (LF), G3 (SS), Snow (1B), May (P – Flex).

That was not what I expected, but Coach Gasso has things under control. What does the lineup indicate? I think a couple of things. Johns and Boone have been hitting the ball very well in fall practice. The wrinkle of J C batting second and Alo moving to #3 is interesting. I think it is designed to get an extra person on base in front of Alo. I can’t argue with that.

Top of the first:
The first hitter of the game, Sasha Jennings, blooped a single down the left field line behind Johns, in front of Lou and to the right of Lyons. May struck out the second hitter. On a second pitch strike to the third hitter, Hansen threw Jennings out on a steal for the 2nd out. May finished the inning with a strike out.

Bottom of the first:
Tiare Jennings hit a ball of the end of the bat to SS that was bobbled allowing Jennings to reach first base. It was ruled a single. (It is fall ball.) J C put down a high hopping bunt to the pitcher’s circle that was a single all the way due to the speed of Jayda Coleman. Alo hit a sharp grounder to 3B that was off the fielders glove into left field. Jennings never slowed down around third to score. J C and Alo were caught in the middle of the bases on the throw to the infield. As the runners retreated to 2nd and 1st, the NCTC catcher threw the ball into RF trying to get Alo at first base. The runners ended up on 2nd and 3rd. Hanen hit a towering fly ball to CF for a sacrifice fly to plate the second run. Johns hit a line drive to SS for the 2nd out of the inning. Boone followed that with a smash to left center for a double to plate Alo for a 3-0 score. Boone stole 3rd easily before Lou hit another towering fly ball that was caught by the NCTC SS. The inning included 4 hits and 3 runs with one double.

Top of the second:
May struck out the side with nice velocity and pitch placement.

Bottom of the second:
Lyons singled to reach 1B. Hannah Coor pinch ran for her. Coor stole second base. Snow flied out to CF. Jennings followed the steal with a ground ball to SS and was thrown out at first base. Coor tried to move to third on the grounder but was thrown out by the first baseman with a nice tag by the 3rd baseman. It was a nice play by the NCTC team. One hit in the inning with no runs.

Top of the third:
The first two batters hit balls sharply off May. The first was to the bad side of Jennings at second that she made a nice play on the ball for the first out. The second ball was hit right at Johns. She made a nice clean catch of the ball at her left leg and threw the runner out at first base. May finished her night with another strikeout for the third out. May faced 9 hitters allowed one hit and had 6 Ks. She looked good in the circle. She was behind in the count a couple of times, but she was always in control.

Bottom of the third:
Jayda Coleman hit a line drive just short of the LF that was caught for the first out. Alo walked to put a runner on first base. Hansen singled sharply to LF to put two runners on base. Johns hit another high pop up that was caught by the NCTC second baseman for out #2. Boone brought a runner home to make the score 4-0 as she reached base. Lou then smashed the first HR of the fall to RC that was a no doubter to the bask of the RC bleachers. Donihoo has really learned to take a ball up in the zone out over the plate to RC with power. The ‘full house’ was now fully engaged in the game. G3 was hit by a pitch in the left hip area and G21 ran for her at first base. Taylon Snow followed with her own HR to right center to score two more. Jordan Bahl then hit in the ‘flex spot’ and hit a hard-hit ball to SS for the third out of the inning. With 4 hits and 2 HRs the Sooners scored 6 runs to make it 9-0 through 3 innings.

Top of the fourth:
Hope Trautwein entered the circle for the first time as a Sooner. The first hitter she faced topped a grounder back to Trautwein for the first out that was handled easily. She had good location and velocity as she struck out the next two hitters to end the fourth.

Bottom of the fourth:
Jennings led off the inning with a walk. Turiya Coleman pinch-ran for Jennings and stole second after a J C fly out to RF for the 1st out. After T Coleman moved to third on a wp/pb, Alo brought her in to score with a SFLY to RF to make the score 10-0. Sophia Nugent entered as a pinch hitter for her first at bat as a Sooner with Hansen on first base after she walked. On a weird play to end the inning, I think Hansen left 1B early for the third out on what looked like ball 4 on Nugent. The Sooners scored a run on 2 walks and a steal.

Top of the fifth:
The first NCTC hitter hit a soft line drive to Lyons for the first out. Trautwein, once again, then struck out the next two hitters. Trautwein’s rise ball just explodes up in the zone.

Bottom of the fifth:
Nugent got to hit ‘again’ after the play to end the fourth. Nugent rolled over on an outside pitch and hit a grounder well enough to get by the third baseman for a double down the LF line. Boone once again smacked the ball to LC for a double to score Nugent. Lou double also to LC for another RBI. Grace Green hit for G3 and made the first out on a sinking fly ball to LF that was caught. Snow than got another hit to plate Donihoo to make the score 13-0. Bahl followed with another hard ball at the first baseman who caught the ball and tagged first on the play for a double play as Snow was on the move to second on the play. The Sooners had four hits in the inning to plate 3 runs.

Top of the sixth:
Trautwein gave up a single to lead of the inning on a bloop hit down the RF line. If I remember correctly, Trautwein struck out the next two hitters before a ground out to third base to Johns to end the inning. Trautwein completed her 3 innings allowing 1 bloop-hit with 6 Ks and two ground ball outs.

Bottom of the sixth:
The inning was highlighted by an absolute ‘bomb’ to CF that flew into the night well outside of the stadium over the flag poles. I think the ball was still easily on its upward trek as it cleared the stadium. The ball was crushed. The ball was hit by Ms. Alo, the HR Queen. Elam followed that with another HR to LC that also cleared the double fence behind the LC bleachers. I think Green also hit a HR to left center in this inning (It might have been the 7th for her HR.) to join the round-trippers club. The Sooners scored 3 runs in the inning to make the score 16-0.

Top of the seventh:
In a much-anticipated event, Jordan Bahl entered the circle to pitch for the first time for the Sooners. Her pre-pitch routine is unique. After a few arm swings back and forth across her body, she reaches in her glove to grip the ball and she moves toward the plate in one motion. A batter really does not see the ball at all until the release of the ball. The ball is very quickly on the hitter with movement. Any batters first at bat against Bahl must be tough. She promptly struck out the first hitter she faced, the second hitter she faced and the third hitter she faced.

Bottom of the seventh:
The inning was highlighted by 3 more HRs by Hansen that was a low rocket over the CF fence. Hansen really hits a low pitch on the inside half of the plate very well. Brito hit her first Sooner HR over the left field fence with Johns following that with a big HR hit down the left field line that hooked around the foul pole as it left the stadium. The Sooners scored 6 runs in the inning to make it 22-0.

Top of the eighth:
After the first out of the inning, Bahl’s fourth K, Coach Gasso went to the circle to have a meeting. After the meeting, the defensive alignment changed. Snow, Lyons (playing 2B) and Brito (playing SS) was all on the right side of the infield. Johns remained on the left side in a shallow SS position against the right-handed hitter. The outfield was aligned normally. This was the Lowary-shift. After another K by Bahl, the shift was revised as Donihoo was brought in to be a 5th infielder between Johns and 2B. J C or Coor was in CF and Boone was in RF. Bahl added her 6th straight K to end the inning. Through her first two innings the only success for the hitters were a couple of late swings that produced foul balls towards the first base dugout.

Bottom of the eighth:
I will admit that I drove home during this half inning. From what I can tell, it looks like Lyons might have doubled and Green hit another HR in the inning to make the score 24-0.

Top of the ninth:
I made it home to watch the inning via SoonerSports.TV. Bahl was still pitching in front of the shift and throwing strikes. She struck out the side to complete the game. Her 3 inning 9 strikeout debut was impressive.

Wrap-up:
The Sooner defense was just as expected. With the Sooners hurlers totaling 21 Ks, there were only six balls to field. One was a caught stealing by Hansen and Lyons. Johns fielded two ground balls for outs, Jennings fielded one and Trautwein fielded one. Lyons caught the remaining out on a soft liner. I think the players played these positions.
• Brito – 3B, SS (the box score showed 1B and CF also)
• T Coleman – 2B and RF (the box scored showed 3B also)
• Coor – CF
• Nugent – Catcher and 1B
Other players played these positions.
• Elam – Catcher and 1B (the box score showed SS, but I think this was an error)
• Johns – 3B and 1B
• Lyons – SS and 2B
• Alo – LF, Jennings - 2B, Hansen - C, Snow – 1B and RF, Donihoo – LF, J C – CF, Boone - RF
• (The box score showed Hansen and Johns playing LF but I did not see that)
• I did not see Green play the field, but I could have missed that.

On offense, the Sooners were what I expected. The team has so many hitters that can hit. I was surprised that there were 5 strikeouts by the Sooner hitters. I was not surprised by the 9 HRs and 4 doubles. The team has speed to spare on the base paths. There is going to be great competition for at least a couple positions from now until February. I was surprised that Coor did not hit in the game.

It can be said that this was not a competitive game. I do not think NCTC was a strong team at all. They did play hard and had a couple of moments that looked good in the field. But in no way was this game a ‘test’ for the Sooner hitters or the pitchers. The pitchers did look excellent. They should have looked that way and they did. The hitters were pretty much on their game, but they could have hit better in some cases. The ‘full house’ of Sooner fans were treated to an entertaining game despite the light rain and length of the game.

Friday night should be a better contest against OBU. But it should still be a blowout by the Sooners.

Boomer Sooner!

https://s3.amazonaws.com/soonersports.c ... NCTC_0.pdf